TAIZ: Yemeni government officials urged the international community to help protect civilians and reopen roads into the city of Taiz as Iran-backed Houthis further tightened their siege of the city.

Taiz province has emerged as a major battlefront in recent weeks, including the city of Taiz — considered a gateway to the country’s south. It has taken in around half of Yemen’s population displaced by the latest fighting, straining limited resources.

The Taiz governor, Nabil Shamsan, said residents had lost access to about 3 million liters (about 793,000 gallons) of water previously available from wells in Wadi Al-Dhubab, which he said is now under Houthi control.

Eshraq Al-Maqtari, a legal affairs minister in Yemen’s internationally recognized government, said more than 2,000 projectiles and explosives fired by the Houthis had struck Taiz city districts in recent days and called for measures to cut off the militia's weapon supplies and funding.

Shamsan said fighting had intensified across the province as the Houthis deployed reinforcements to multiple fronts, with the city encircled on all four sides.